Mr. President, the more I listen to you speak about how you are going to handle the opioid crisis plaguing our country, the more I realize that your knowledge regarding the disease of addiction is nonexistent.

You first spoke about building a wall to keep drugs out of our country. At every debate, campaign stop and interview, you raised your fist and chanted “Build The Wall.”

OxyContin was introduced back in 1995. It was marketed as addiction-proof. It was marketed as safe for everything from back pain to arthritis.

The truth is that OxyContin is highly addictive. But the drug company that created it, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, misrepresented their drug to physicians, who began to over-prescribe this poison to every patient complaining of any type of pain.

If you truly intend to stop the flow of drugs into our country, and if you still insist on building a wall, build it around the pharmaceutical industry.

Now let's talk about Congress, as they've been bought by Big Pharma. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Pharmaceutical companies contributed $51 million into the 2012 federal election and $32 million in the 2014 election. Pharmaceutical companies line the campaign pockets of both Republicans and Democrats.

In other words, Big Pharma owns our government.

Stopping Congress from lining their pockets with contributions from Big Pharma is a step that must be taken. You must end the relationship immediately.

Now let's talk about your quote: "Maybe by talking to youth and telling them 'no good, really bad for you'... if they don't start, it will never be a problem.”

I agree that prevention education must start early and be available in every school nationwide. However, you are taking giant steps backward into the 1980’s when you resurrect the “Just Say No” campaign that was a tremendous failure.

You must recognize that addiction is not a behavioral issue. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, “addiction is a chronic brain disorder, not merely a behavioral problem or simply the result of taking the wrong choices.” No amount of talking will save anyone living in the throes of this disease.

Please understand, the brains of those addicted have been rewired. The brain adjusts to the opioid use by making less natural dopamine. The disease affects brain circuitry that directly controls impulse and judgment.

In lay terms, your brain turns on you, becoming your worst enemy. Addiction causes distortion in how you think and behave. These behaviors are a manifestation of the disease, not part of a choice.

Your thoughts of tougher sentences and longer jail time show once again your lack of knowledge regarding addiction. Rather than wasting time and money with court hearings and branding people with a label that will follow them for the rest of their lives, consider providing long term, comprehensive treatment that will lead to sobriety.

According to the CDC, drug overdoses now kill more Americans than gun violence or car accidents. 52,000 people lost their lives in 2015. This death toll can be attributed to the increased over-prescribing of opioids in our country.

Addiction is a USA doctor-made disease. Over-prescribing doctors must be stopped, prosecuted and jailed, never to practice again. You, Mr. President must set the standard, establishing laws to shut down pill mill practices.

If you are serious about addressing this epidemic in a way that will be effective, then let me suggest you increase your knowledge regarding what works to treat the disease of addiction:

First, affordable long term in-patient treatment facilities and detox units must be built in every state.

The insurance industry must be mandated to cover addiction treatment as they cover every other chronic disease. The discrimination must end.

Comprehensive mental health programs must be federally funded and available nationwide.

Narcan must be affordable and available in every pharmacy in every state.

Medication Assisted Treatment facilities must be state regulated, accept all Insurance plans, extend hours of operation and incorporate weaning protocols. MAT is a step to recovery, not a place to live.

Drug court teams must work with the criminal justice system ensuring that all treatment communities work together helping addicted offenders reach long term recovery.

Until Congress and you, Mr. President, stop dancing around the issue, we will continue to lose 130 lives a day.

Be aware that grieving mothers like me who have lost a child to this epidemic are watching and waiting for you to stop talking about what you will do and act accordingly by doing what needs to be done.

MaryBeth Cichocki is a Delaware anti-addiction advocate who lost her son, Matt, to an opioid overdose.